


Outer Banks AU

by TheKingInTheNorth03



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:15:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24461149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKingInTheNorth03/pseuds/TheKingInTheNorth03
Summary: A kid, who’s father, by all accounts, was dead. Who had been fending for himself for months. Who was now running from the foster care system to avoid losing the only family he had left, a family he chose. John B. wasn’t a lost cause, the world had failed him, but he’d be damned if he failed his people and Ward was grateful Sarah was one of his people.OrAn Outer Banks AU where we’ll get to explore John B. adjusting to the Kook life with the Camerons, while trying to balance finishing his dad’s hunt for the gold, and #poguelife. It will have the same basic outline of the show, but I will be making a lot of creative adjustments.
Relationships: Sarah Cameron/John B. Routledge
Comments: 14
Kudos: 33





	1. The Hawk’s Nest

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my first Outer Banks fic! I absolutely fell in love with the show and I’m obsessed with the cannon. I was going to try and do a season 2 fic, but I honestly couldn’t compete with what I’m sure they have planned, so instead I’ve decided to write an AU concept! The first thing I want to explore is what things would have been like if John B. actually got the chance to live the Kook life with the Camerons. Here in our AU we do NOT know who has the Routledge compass, Ward is not a psychopath(yet?), and we’re going to have some OCs pop up eventually. I really hope you guys enjoy! This is still in the process of being written, so please comment ideas you guys want to see and I’ll do my best to incorporate them!

_“So, what’s it going to be like when we get back?”_

_“Nothing changes, I guess”_

Their conversation on the ferry the day prior played over and over again inside her head, as she sprinted down the rotting wood steps. What if she had just _kept it professional?_ She could have returned to her bubble and he would have never been laying lifeless in front of her.

The moment she reached him, Sarah’s knees buckled, she fell to his side and screamed for anyone to help them. Her hands looped around his neck, pulling his forehead to hers. She whispered against his lips that _everything would be okay_ , in reality, Sarah didn’t really know if she was trying to convince him, or herself.

The rest of the night was a blur of flashing red lights, constant beeping from hospital monitors, and so _so_ many tears.

Before she knew it the bright orange hues of the sunrise started to peak through the curtains of his room. Sarah had sat on the edge of his bed holding his hand the entire night, for what it was worth he actually looked _peaceful?_ If that was possible. When he was awake, he was plagued by his _paternal jihad_. Always running away, it seemed like he never slept. She knew that when he woke up these peaceful moments would give way to his panic, the moment his eyes opened he’d start running again.

“How’s he doing?” Her dad’s burly voice broke through Sarah’s thoughts.

She couldn’t tear her eyes away from him long enough, to even meet her fathers gaze. Tears streamed down her cheeks for what felt like the hundredth time since they arrived to St. Olive’s. Ward Cameron was by her side in an instant, rubbing soothing circles on his daughter’s back.

“It’s alright sweetheart, it’s alright.” A twinge of pain wrapped around the man’s heart as he kissed the top of his daughter’s head.

Ward had arrived shortly after 1 o’clock that morning, after he received a shocking call from his daughter and Sheriff Peterkin. You’re not supposed to have favorites with your children, but if he had been allowed, it would have been Sarah. He had seen her just an hour earlier, talking of her _go-getter mystery boy_. He never would’ve guessed it was the Pogue he had fired a week prior.

“So, when did this start?” His words brought a small chuckle from Sarah in between sobs.

“A couple of days ago.” She said rubbing soothing circles with her thumb onto the unconscious boy’s calloused hand, “I-uh, I helped him run from the DCS”

“You what?” He said bewildered.

“I was grabbing lunch and all of a sudden I see him fly off this bike over a chain.” She chuckled, squeezing his hand lightly, “H-he had this gnarly gash on his side, so I brought him back to the house and cleaned it for him.”

Her voice grew shaky as tears began to flow more freely, “W-we snuck on a tugboat to the mainland,”

Her father’s face scrunched up in confusion as she continued to tell the story of their _mission_ to Chapel Hill.

“The ferry was booked an-and he tried to talk to the captain, but they were full too, so I snuck us on and we hid in a supply room and then we went shopping and h-he looks so cute in seersucker.” The words poured out of her in a rush of hiccups and intensifying sobs.

Ward squeezed his daughter’s shoulder reassuringly. Sarah let her head fall gently against her dad’s chest, while her eyes stayed locked on John B.

Ward sighed heavily, bringing his free hand up to rub his scruffy bearded chin, “Sarah, honey didn’t I tell you to make good choices? Y-you can’t just be running around all night on tugboats and playing on rotting towers. What if you were the one who fell?”

“He didn’t fall!” She shouted pushing away from her dad, “Topper shoved him.”

As mad as she had been, Sarah hadn’t told the police what happened in the Hawk’s Nest, she wasn’t one to try and ruin anybody’s future, especially a boy who’s heart she had clearly smashed. But she knew if she wanted her dad to see John B. like she did, she’d have to tell him the whole story.

“Topper? Wha-what do you mean Sarah?” He said.

She sighed, sitting back down and brushing a stray strand of the boy’s unruly curls away from his face, she said, “We were up in the tower talking, there was this huge clap of thunder and I got scared and jumped, John B. held me and I felt so safe. I-uh, we-we started kissing and I didn’t hear anyone come up the steps, all of a sudden Topper is screaming at me, calling me a whore and a liar. He tried to grab me so I would go talk with him, John B. got in between us, defending me and then Topper shoved him. H-he fell straight through the railing daddy.”

Her father pulled her into a loving embrace as her emotions finally got the best of her. Tears flowed unabated while her heartbreaking sobs filled the small room.

When Sarah had first told him who she had been with he had been furious. His princess, mixed up with John B. and his pack of delinquents? He wouldn’t let his family image be ruined by Sarah’s infatuation with lost causes. He knew the boy had an effect on people, a natural charm and charisma that made it hard to dislike him at all. In many ways Ward saw a younger version of himself in John B. but after all the things he had been hearing about that boy and the incident with his scuba gear, he had planned to drag his daughter out of that hospital kicking and screaming if he had to.

That was until he heard the way Sarah spoke about him, he had listened to her teenage ramblings about Topper and Denny and even the boy before that, hell he couldn’t even remember that boys name, but this, _this_ was different. So different in fact, it had given Ward a new perspective on the boy. A kid, who’s father, by all accounts, was dead. Who had been fending for himself for months. Who was now running from the foster care system to avoid losing the only family he had left, a family he chose. John B. wasn’t a lost cause, the world had failed him, but he’d be damned if he failed his people and Ward was grateful Sarah was one of _his_ people.


	2. Welcome to the Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! All your guys comments were so awesome! I really appreciate all the kind words and I will be responding to them individually when I get home! Anyway, here is chapter two for ya! Please give any and all feedback and let me know what you guys want to see in the next chapter. I’m so excited to share this journey with you guys!

Sheriff Susan Peterkin made her way down the bright fluorescent hall toward John B’s room, Cheryl from the DCS right on her heels.

“I want a deputy posted outside his room at all times until he’s discharged Susan, he’s a danger to himself.” She said.

Peterkin just nodded as they stepped inside the room. An eerie silence fell over the room as all eyes focused on John B.

Sarah was the first to break the quiet, “What’s going to happen to him?” she said frantically.

Peterkin and Cheryl shared a glance before the latter replied, “We have a wonderful foster home waiting for him on the mainland, he-“

Before Cheryl could finish, Sarah began shaking her head vehemently, “No. No y-you can’t. Dad, p-please do something!”

“What happens when you take him over there and he runs again?” Ward asked.

“The kid can’t run forever Ward.”

Susan Peterkin always had a soft spot for the Routledge kid, it was a tragedy what happened to his father and she didn’t want to see him lost to the system, taken away from his friends and everything he’d ever known. She had always tried to look out for him, but she couldn’t deny the fact that he needed structure in his life. He had been lucky this time, but she could see it clearly, he was no longer keeping himself above water.

“No and he shouldn’t have to.” He said quietly, almost too quiet for anyone to hear, “I’ll-uh, I’ll take the kid in Sue.”

As soon as the words left his mouth Sarah’s smile lit up the room like a radiant star. She was in her father’s arms in an instant, as the rest of the room blurred from more tears, their voices all became a shallow buzz.

The three adults left the room shortly after to sign the legal guardian paperwork while Sarah, once again, sat and held John B’s hand.

It wasn’t long after that he started to stir, the fingers on his cast covered hand twitched and flexed. As his eyes opened a blistering pang shot throughout the back of his head, his vision was blurry and he could barely turn his head to survey the surrounding room.

The room spun at a hundred miles per hour while his drowsy eyes tried to gain focus and then there was her. All at once the room slowed to a halt and he was able to grab a slight hold on his senses, every last one of them focused on the angelic blonde in front of him. He could feel the smooth touch of her thumb tracing patterns on his hand, he could smell the mixture of salt and something uniquely Sarah Cameron radiate from her skin, then he saw her smile and it’s radiance grounded him further.

Finally he heard a soft whisper come from her lips, “Hi”

“Hi” his voice came out coarse and weak. He tried to swallow a few times but the dehydration was making even that a difficult task.

Sarah took the moment to drink him in, all she had wanted for hours was for him to open his perfect brown eyes and say anything, but when that word fell off his lips she had to bite her lip to hide her excitement.

“Where am I?” He asked, though the pain meds were clearly still having their effect on him.

“St. Olive’s, you fell from the Hawk’s Nest.” Sarah replied sweetly. “You have a concussion and a broken wrist.”

John B. pulled his droopy eyes away from Sarah and looked down at his left hand, covered in a stiff black cast.

“Woah,” he said quietly.

“Pretty cool,” Sarah said as she smiled down at him.

The memories came roaring back as the fog steadily began lifting from his mind. Her white dress. The midsummer party. The plat map. The Hawk’s Nest. Their kiss. Topper. Suddenly John B. was very aware where he was and who could be there waiting for him.

“I need to get out of here.” He tried to push himself off of the hospital, but his body screamed in protest and his face twisted into a pain filled grimace, “DCS is gonna find me-“

Sarah placed a hand gently onto his chest, shushing him gently, trying to calm his nerves as her father stepped into the room.

“Hang on there, kid. Hang on.” Ward had been standing just outside the room, giving the two teens a moment to themselves.

John B. sighed heavily, he was caught, there was no where left to run. At least, that’s what he thought.

“Sarah told me everything. About your little adventure. About you running from the DCS.” Ward paused for a second and stared down at John B. a glimmer of pride in his eyes, like a father stares at his son, “About how you were protecting her in the tower.”

John B’s eyes flicked to Sarah and she also carried a glint of pride in her soft eyes. Pride for her boy. The boy who looks at her like she put the stars in the sky. The boy who makes her feel whole when he holds her.  _ Was this what falling in love felt like?  _ The two share a sweet smile, almost knowing this was the moment things between them were becoming real.

“John, I believe I owe you an apology.” Ward said stepping closer to the bed, “you were honest with me about a small indiscretion and I went ahead and fired you anyway. And I shouldn’t have.”

Sarah had never heard her father speak with so much regret in his voice, it was as if he had put John B. in that hospital bed himself.

“Unfortunately, from time to time I have a bit of a-“ Ward sighed heavily before finishing his sentence, “short fuse.”

He quickly nodded towards his daughter, shooting her a warm smile. “ask her.”

“It’s true.” She agreed, returning his smile.

“Anyway, I’d like to make it up for it, if you’ll let me. I spoke with Sheriff Peterkin and I’ve offered to be your legal guardian, if you’ll have me.” He chuckled a bit looking between the two love struck teens.

John B. felt like his drowsiness was getting the best of him because  _ there’s no way he really said that._

“What?” He asked, eyebrows pinched in confusion.

“It’d mean a roof over your head and no more running from the DCS.”

His eye brows raised in disbelief, eyes fluttering to Sarah, who was biting her bottom lip trying to temper her excitement.  _God, she wanted him to say yes_.  She tried to hold back until he actually agreed because she didn’t want him to feel pressured, but  _ she would be living with him!_

For a second she thought he was going to say  _thanks, but no thanks_.  He sighed and tried to sit up straighter. His eyes dropped in disbelief, like they were just playing a cruel prank on him. Then, he looked at her and smirked, the kind of smirk that said more than a thousand words, but his next words made her heart pound against her rib cage all the same.

“S-sure. Yeah. Uh-sounds good.” He chuckled after he agreed because who would have ever thought that he’d be living with Kook royalty.  _ That he’d be dating Kook royalty._

Sarah smiled brightly at the two most important men in her life, no longer hiding her excitement. She immediately hopped off the bed and wrapped her arms around her father. Ward embraced his daughter tightly, he knew that he would have to establish ground rules for the two of them, but for now her smile was all that mattered.

Ward placed a hand on John B’s shoulder a smiled down warmly at him, “Welcome to the family.”

_ Family. Could he really have a family again? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I went back and forth on whether or not I wanted to include the scene with Ward, Sarah, and John B. because it was in the show and I didn’t want to bore you guys with repetition, but I decided that it was essential, so I wrote it in! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Hopefully I’ll have 3 and 4 up in the next two days!


End file.
